Square Likely To Announce Cabs Partnership With New York City

In a photo tweeted out last Monday by the New York City Mayor's office, Square CEO Jack Dorsey and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg were pictured riding together in a cab outfitted with Square's payment system. (Photo courtesy of @NYCMayorsOffice)

After closing out a deal to implement its technology in Starbucks stores across the nation, mobile payment company Square may be taking to the streets to find more revenue streams. Literally.

Late Monday, private company expert PrivCo said that the San Francisco-based startup and the city of New York will be announcing an official partnership with the city of New York to implement Square's payment systems across the city's cabs. If negotiations are completed as expected, said New York City-based PrivCo, the partnership may be announced as early as this month.

"This shows that any taxi cab anywhere in the world can now take credit card payments," said PrivCo CEO Sam Hamadeh. "New York City is the biggest taxi cab market in the world and this legitimizes that mobile payments are here to stay."

A Square spokesperson said that the company has "a positive, productive relationship" with New York City's Taxi & Limousine Commission, but did not confirm if a deal was in place, noting that PrivCo's report had "no basis in fact."

Allan Fromberg a spokesperson with the taxi and limousine commission said, "There is no truth whatsoever to PrivCo's reported statements regarding a deal in the works between Square and the TLC."

The latest deal, if it goes through, would be another success for Square, which announced a lucrative partnership to enable payments across the coffee giant's 7,000 U.S. stores in August. Square, valued at $3.25 billion in its latest round of funding, will launch its payment system in some Starbucks stores beginning in November.

Since March, Square has piloted new technology in a program with New York City's Taxi & Limousine Commission. Featuring an iPad connected to a credit card swiper, the new devices in the pilot cabs allowed for riders to swipe their cards at any time and enter the amount later, as first reported by the New York Times.

According to a report from PrivCo, 1,000 cabs will be equipped with Square's iPad card readers over the next year at an upfront cost of $1 million to the mobile payment company. Hamadeh said that based on rough calculations the company's revenues, which were estimated at $42.5 million in 2011, would be boosted by $15 million from the deal over that time period. New York City has over 13,000 cabs in operation.

Last week, Square cofounder and CEO Jack Dorsey and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg were pictured riding together in a taxi outfitted with the new payment rig.

Dorsey debuted this year on The Forbes 400, which ranks the nation's wealthiest individuals. With a net worth of $1.1 billion, the Square CEO derives most of his net worth from the mobile payment company he cofounded in 2009, not Twitter, where he now sits as executive chairman.